And so it (finally, maybe, hopefully) begins: after we all get used to Waymo’s robotaxis on our roads (at least if you live in a place like San Francisco), Aurora is now bringing Level 4 autonomous driving to trucks. And just like Waymo, which is retrofitting existing cars, Aurora’s tech is designed to be integrated into OEM trucks.

“[…] starting with deliveries between Dallas and Houston... aims to expand to El Paso, Texas, and Phoenix, Arizona by the end of the year.”

And the OEM aspect:

“[…] the company has already partnered with Volvo and PACCAR (which makes trucks with Kenworth and Peterbilt badges) to bake its hardware and software into their freight vehicles.”

Link to article.

Surprise, surprise: Driving (well, being driven in) an autonomous vehicle (aka robotaxi) is much safer than driving yourself.

The Waymo team analyzed insurance claim data for more than 25 million miles driven in their cars and found that their autonomous vehicles vastly outperformed human drivers, with an 88% reduction in property damage claims and a 92% reduction in bodily injury claims.

Link to Study